Botany By Luke G.

23042008

Horticulture and botany is the study and practice of growing and farming of plants. Botany includes vegetation, trees and flowers. I remember ever since I was a little boy when springtime came I would always help my mom in our garden. Which really got me interested in botany when I grew up I would read books on the subject and would grow my own vegetables, fruit, and herbs. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the fields of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology. The work particularly involves fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs, and turf. Horticulturalists work to improve crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stresses. Just recently I discovered how to grow hydroponicaly. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel or mineral wool. A variety of techniques exist.

Commonly used chemicals for the macronutrients include potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, potassium phosphate, and magnesium sulfate. These nutrient chemicals speed the growth of plants because they receive all the nutrients needed for rapid growth; you can call it steroids for plant life.

In my opinion I believe that naturally earth top soil grown vegetation, and flowers are better then hydroponically because from my experience and botanist agree naturally grown has more flavor with brighter colors, sweeter and over all tastes better. The advantage of hydroponically grown vegetation is that you can grow it inside or green house at anytime of the season and it is quicker to fully grow and mature plants with taking up less space. The reason I believe naturally grown vegetation and plant life is better grown naturally in top soil then hydroponically is because plants get natural sun light and natural nutrients not chemically altered. So Naturally grown plants take longer to grow and develop to full maturity. Naturally growing under ideal conditioning like 70 degree weather with natural 12 hour sunlight daily makes plants brighter sweeter and taste better then artificial lighting with artificially made nutrients.

Naturally grown products are at a high demand right now especially organic grown which Organic farming is a form of agriculture which excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives, and genetically modified organisms.

A grower must keep detailed records of planting, cultivation, fertilization, harvest, and storage, and must pay for both organization membership and periodic inspection. Organic or naturally grown products stand out as having higher levels of secondary plant compounds and vitamin C.

So there are up side to growing hydroponically with quantity produced in smaller space then conventional growing outside farming and growing as well as being able to grow at any time of the season. But hydroponics systems consist of growing in big containment boxes with artificial sunlight and artificial nutrient and have to go through three different stages each in a separate containment box first being seed cultivation, second vegetative growing and third budding maturing your plants. This type of growing is very expensive each growing container with equipment goes for about $1,500.00 dollars. But growing out side naturally barely cost any money all it really takes is buying seeds or already cultivated plants, some top soil for your ground and watering daily. Growing is not a difficult thing but to be successful you need to watch over your plants making sure they are watered and healthy. So if you ever decide to grow naturally earth grown organic is the best way to go for best quality and taste.